Southern California was bracing Monday for a heat wave expected to bring triple-digit temperatures to much of the region this week.

Driven by weak offshore winds and a heat dome over the southwestern United States, temperatures are forecast to rise over the course of the week before peaking Thursday and Friday. Portions of the Los Angeles Basin could reach 113 degrees by the weekend while the mercury could climb to 119 in the Coachella Valley.

“We are in what’s already the hottest time of the year climatically, and we are going to be 10 to 15 degrees above normal, in almost every area from the beach to the deserts,” said meteorologist Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.

Labor Day was already scorching in many communities, with the San Gabriel Valley forecast to hit 100 degrees and the western San Fernando Valley to see temperatures as high as 103. L.A. neighborhoods closer to the water were to enjoy relatively more moderate conditions in the 80s and low 90s.

Woodland Hills, traditionally the hottest place in L.A., was expected to have temperatures of up to 109 degrees Tuesday, 110 Wednesday and 113 Thursday before falling slightly to 111 on Friday.

In Santa Clarita, temperatures were expected to skyrocket from an uncomfortable 95 degrees on Monday to an oppressive 106 by Thursday. In Palm Springs, Labor Day temperatures of 107 to 111 degrees were to give way to temperatures of 114 to 118 degrees by Thursday.

Dangerously hot conditions were affecting a swath of the country including Nevada and Arizona. Kittell, of the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said that because days are shorter than in June and July, desert areas experience less sun and as a result, there are fewer differences in temperature between them and coastal communities.

He said people who live close to the beach and don’t have air conditioning may not be prepared for the heat.

“Make plans now for how you are going to stay cool,” Kittell said.

Temperatures will ebb slightly over the weekend, but it is not clear when the heat wave will subside.

However uncomfortable, the heat this week is not expected to break records. The record for the first week of September was set in 2020 when temperatures reached 121 in Woodland Hills.

The Record Fire that started near San Jacinto, California, burned more than 650 acres on Sunday, according to officials.

The brush fire was reported at around 2:15 p.m. near Soboba Road and Gilman Spring Road north of San Jacinto, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

An investigation by fire officials determined the fire was human-caused.

SMALL PLANE CRASHES INTO OREGON TOWNHOUSES, KILLING 2 ON BOARD: REPORT

An investigation by fire officials determined the fire was human-caused. (Riverside County Fire Department)

The fire remains at 0% contained as of 10 p.m. local time, the fire department said.

At least six firefighters working to put out the fire were hospitalized with minor injuries. Ground units and water-dropping aircraft assisted in battling the fire.

TENNESSEE MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED WOMAN BEFORE LIGHTING CHURCH ABLAZE, SAID HE WAS ‘GOING TO GET GOD’S WATER’

At least six firefighters working to put out the fire were hospitalized with minor injuries. (iStock)

Evacuation warnings were issued for parts of Riverside County in response to the fire.

A care and reception center has been opened at Nicolet Middle School in Banning.

Evacuation warnings were issued for parts of Riverside County in response to the fire. (iStock)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The fire remains under investigation.

A vigil was held Sunday evening in Culver City just hours after Israeli authorities shared the news that six hostages had been killed by Hamas after nearly a year in captivity.

One of the slain hostages was 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a California-born man whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month and who has become widely known in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Sunday night’s vigil was held at the site of a memorial exhibit dedicated to the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. The memorial, in a 50,000-square-foot industrial event space, opened Aug. 17.

Shortly before the event, Scooter Braun, a music executive and the main organizer of the memorial service, told The Times that after the killings, the decision was made to hold the vigil amid the exhibit, which re-creates the attack at the Nova music festival in Israel.

By 6 p.m. Sunday, several hundred people had gathered. Many wore a piece of tape on their chests with the number 331, to signify the number of days since the hostages were taken. The service was held in a part of the exhibit known as the “healing room.”

Braun said the exhibit was inspired by stories told by survivors of the music festival.

“It has nothing to do with politics. You won’t see any flags here,” Braun said. “It is strictly about the music festival and what took place there. To allow people to see this could’ve been Coachella, this could’ve been Stagecoach.”

Most of the recently slain hostages had attended the Oct. 7 Nova music festival.

Israeli officials confirmed Sunday morning that the bodies of the six hostages, including Goldberg-Polin, were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Authorities found their bodies Saturday night, and an autopsy revealed that four men and two women died sometime Thursday or Friday from gunshot wounds.

Speaking at the Democratic convention in Chicago on Aug. 21, Rachel Goldberg said her son, whom she described as a fan of music and travel, attended the festival in Israel’s Negev desert with his best friend to celebrate Goldberg-Polin’s birthday.

Goldberg stood alongside her husband, Jon Polin, during a tearful speech. The parents, who have met with numerous political leaders in the months since their son’s abduction, spoke at the convention nearly two weeks before news broke of his death.

She went on to describe the horrific series of events that unfolded the morning of Oct. 7, and said that Goldberg-Polin and his friend, along with 27 other festival-goers, hid in a 5-by-8-foot bomb shelter as militants threw grenades into the shelter. Goldberg-Polin was taken into captivity. His friend, Goldberg said, heroically deflected eight grenades until he was killed by a ninth one.

People attend a vigil at the Nova Exhibition on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The vigil was held to honor the six hostages who were taken October 7, 2023 and were killed by Hamas. (Eric Thayer / For The Times)

A view from the vigil at the Nova Exhibition held on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

“Hersh’s left forearm, his dominant arm, was blown off before he was loaded onto a pickup truck and stolen from his life,” his mother said.

“At this moment, 109 treasured human beings are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza,” she said. “Among the hostages are eight American citizens. One of those Americans is our only son.”

The other hostages who were killed, in addition to Goldberg-Polin, who was the only U.S. citizen among them, were identified by the Israeli military as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.

In a preliminary assessment, the Israeli military said all six were killed “shortly” before troops arrived to rescue them.

On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian militants executed multiple attacks throughout Israel, including at the music festival, where 364 attendees were killed and about 250 individuals were taken hostage. About half of those hostages were freed in a hostage-prisoner swap last year. In total, 1,200 Israelis were killed, including at least 42 Americans.

Since those attacks, Israel retaliated with an aerial bombardment of Gaza, a densely populated area of land, and with ground troops, waging a war that has since killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

People attend a vigil at the Nova exhibit on Sept. 1, 2024, in Culver City. The exhibit, which commemorates the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, was inspired by stories told by survivors of the music festival in Israel.

(Eric Thayer / For The Times)